The Sweet Smell Of Success
Cue the Rocky theme. I've made it to the top of the steps which tons of overly-excited children on my heals, screaming Adrian...Adrian!
One week; seven posts; a new media website; no regrets. I'm very pleased with my accomplishment. Like I mentioned last night, I'm most excited about the launch of
Forgotten Graffiti. I feel like I owe this week's endeavor of daily blogging to the inspiration to move forward with the site.
Thank you all for your comments. I've appreciated the support through this ordeal.
In all honesty, I've had tons of fun. With the start of school tomorrow, I imagine schedules will be pretty much packed. However, two things have changed since last week:
1. I now look forward to blogging, and look specifically for things to write about.
2. I have no excuse not to blog. Especially with accountability partners such as Mike, Erik, and Toby.
I look forward to seeing what this new semester will bring to my blogging mind. And with that,
so passes Make 7Up-Dates Yours Week. The score? Me: 7. Blog: 0.
Inyourface!
Forgotten Graffiti
I'm going to express my feelings about how this week of blogging has impacted me tomorrow, but for tonight, I just want to touch on one thing.
Blogging daily has really given me a passion for working online. I've always enjoyed learning how to code in html and java. I've worked very hard on a blog I use for the Jr. High worship band at Bent Tree, and that's given me some better understanding as to programming.
This week, however, my pursuance of using the web how I want has inspired me to do something I've always wanted to do. I'm a big fan of art, whether musical or visual. I have always enjoyed making graphics of all sorts. In the past I've made a few desktop backgrounds, but this week, I've been inspired to pursue the hobby.
I give to you
Forgotten Graffiti. I've spent the last five days trying to get this site up and running, and although there are still a few bugs, I've opened up the gallery.
I've got a long way to go, both in my knowledge of coding and most definitely in my artistic abilities, but I have been having tons of fun in the process. Please feel free to check out the desktop backgrounds or spread the word about my site for me. Links will always be appreciated!
I'm totally open to suggestions, comments, concerns, hate mail, whatever. I know the images aren't top notch, but hopefully with time I'll develop the skills neccessary to consider graphic design a hobby.
A salute to my hero, Bob Ross, and I'm out.
The List
I am trying to keep it brief tonight. I've noticed that my posts have gotten consecutively longer. I apologize.
I've discovered that listing the movies that I hate is much easier than choosing which movies are my favorites. But tonight, I'm taking a crack at it.
We'll start with my chosen Worst:
5. Planet of the Apes--Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter.
I could never get into the whole Ape craze. I know those old movies are famous, but I was never a huge fan. However, I'd rather sit through 50 hours of the old films than watch the remake once while repeatedly being uppercutted.
4. Armageddon--Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck.
I don't think that Affleck need be mentioned. He definitely has the Midas Touch that turns every film he's been in to poo. The worse part about the film is that in the end, the writers have to decide whether it'll be Willis or Affleck who will die. Guess who they picked? The Unbreakable Willis. Imagine, if we had left Affleck to explode on that asteroid we wouldn't of had to deal with Reindeer Games, Pearl Harbor, or Gigli.
3. Batman & Robin--George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I'm not near the scale of loyalty that Hankins is on, but Batman was my hero as a kid.
This movie had me thinking sinfully violent thoughts about the production team.
2. A History of Violence--Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris.
The story was
horrible, the acting was pathetic (due to the dialogue in my mind), their was absolutely pointless nudity, and the violence was rediculously overdone in an attempt to be "artistic". I really respected Viggo until this watching this film. I stuck it out til the end hoping for redemption--nope, didn't come.
1. Wind Talkers--need I say more? Let's put Nic Cage in a historic film about an indigenous people who sacrificed their lives for our country. The film was a complete mockery of the Navajo. I wanted to throw up. So I did. On the DVD.
Best of the best:5. Shaun of the Dead--Simon Pegg, Nick Frost.
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at my Tv. This British comedy effortlessly parodies many a zombie scifi. It's so great, words can't describe it.
4. The Shawshank Redemption--Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman.
I believe this film was pretty close to the start of Morgan Freeman's conquering of the world. This film is carried by the acting. Everything about the characters pulls me in. Compared to other prison movies, this film maintains such an accuracy in its shooting. It is very well done.
3. Back to the Future--Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd.
I don't believe the makers of this film had any concept of the brilliance they were creating. It is truly a timeless classic. I remember watching it with my dad, and loving it then as much as I do now. I will watch it with my kids, and they will love it. Period.
2. Batman Begins--Christian Bale, Sir Michael Caine.
Sweet redemption, spelled N-o-l-a-n. I watch this movie at least once a month, and after every viewing, my level of anticipation for the next film in the series increases. At least once every three months, I put on a cape and run around throwing cardboard bats at people.
1. Braveheart--Mel Gibson, Angus Macfadyen.
Believe it or not, I had originally had Batman Begins as number one. I'm still not even sure I've made the right choice, but I know half of you were expecting Braveheart as number one. Got to please the masses, you know. What to say? The story to me is so richly poetic. I've always been passionate about Scotland. In my memory, I have never seen a film that has taken a culture, history, and a story and weaved them together to form such a visually stunning movie. It's just beautiful. Plus, come on. William Wallace. Come on. The dude is a beast. Come on.
Well, that wraps it up. Close runner-ups in both categories were: The Matrix II (worst), and Black Hawk Down and Serenity (best). Hope you've enjoyed the lists!
I'll leave you with a Ben Afflect moment:
"I really don't think that the animal cracker qualifies as a cracker. Well, cause it's sweet, which to me suggests cookie. I mean, well, putting cheese on something is sort of a defining characteristic of what makes a cracker a cracker."
Macjammin'
About five years ago, I attained my first digital recording interface for home musicians, Cakewalk Home Studio. Home recording has since become a passionate hobby of mine. Most of my extra money, unfortunately, goes into either my guitar rig or what I call my "studio". I've been very pleased at the outcome of my most recent musical projects. I consider several of my latest tracks to be my best productions thus far. Since my acquiring of a duel full band EQ, a vocal processor, and a bunch of new mics, the sound quality has improved greatly. What's fun for me is the strive for perfection. There is so much for me to learn about audio production. It's fun to look back at some of the awful tracks I've recorded and see how far I've come. It's also fun to know I've got a long way to go.
However, in all the time and money invested, there was never a real "point" to doing what I do, other than the fact that I love it. It's my hobby. However, there was never any real reason to spend time perfecting my music. The only demands to meet were my own goals, and even then, I could fudge a bit and say "that's good enough".
Then a friend introduced me to Macjams. Macjams, unlike some of the big sister websites like Pure Volume and Myspace Music, is dedicated purely to home recording artists. Macjams is a community based server with a blog-like homepage that keeps members posted with the lastest plugins, loops, recording gear, and Mac updates. The real meat of macjams is their music posting. Dozens of songs are posted every day by musicians from all over the world. Any music style you can think of can be found on amongst the tens of thousands of songs.
Each song posted comes complete with its own page. The musician usually presents lyrics as well as audio tecniques implemented, type of gear used, and other miscellaneous information about the song. Each page consists of a comments section along with a category-based rating system for members. Top rated songs are showcased on Macjams homepage.
The community aspect of Macjams is phenominal. Members of the site tend to understand that Macjams exists to offer a home for musicians to grow and learn together. Unlike Myspace, it's not about showcasing a musician or band to the masses. Macjams delivers a system built on feedback designed to create a community of musicians to improve their skills, because it's what we love to do. The site provides me personally with a finish line. My goal in "finishing" a song and uploading it for feedback derives from the desire not to impress, not to attempt to be better than others, but to deliver my absolute best for the sake of learning more. There's always something to improve. If my best is presented, the faults that show usually are much more "advanced" in the process of becoming a better producer. Ohers better than me who earnestly seek my growth as a musician can assist me in that process.
Still to come: Forgotten Graffiti--my personal artwork gallery of desktop backgrounds.
We be jammin!
Festivus For The Rest Of Us
Tonight was our Missions Festivus at BTBF. We celebrated the work God has done through our students this summer. Many of you who read this blog were there, so I'll spare you the revisitation. However, I will say that I feel like it was done very well. The video-driven aspect was very cool to me. Props to Mike H for the writing, directing, shooting, composing, and editing. (Not to mention, staring in! You can hear his voice in one scene shouting "it's time to get up!" or something like that. Give the man his Oscar)
I liked being offstage tonight. I got a great perspective of a lot of aspects of the service, from planning to running. Plus, I got to wear a cool headset and tell people what to do and when to do it. Not that I have issues with power or control... By the way, I had to mention the headset, because I think Allie was expecting me to blog about it, and I didn't want to let her down.
Ok, here's where I need some feedback. I've been looking for a way to manage a personal website of which I could post my music. If you've never heard of
Macjams.com, it's amazing. I'll be reviewing it tomorrow night. However, it's just a posting site, and not for personal maintainence or editing. All signs point to....sigh....Myspace. I do NOT want to become a statistic. Nor do I want to do what every other musician/band in the world does. Why? Hmm...I don't know. MySpace's reputation to me is just tainted with all kinds of stupidity. I would really appreciate some feedback from those of you who operate a myspace or have any wisdom to shed on the idea. Bottom line, I'm looking for a site that offers these features: Operational control, html editing, feedback options, visual customization, and community. What bites is that I just described Myspace. I guess I'm asking if you know of any
other site group, or if Myspace is truly the way to go and I should just get over it.
Well, it's Wednesday, and I've officially reached the half-way mark of Make 7Up-Dates Yours Week. I stayed up making a 7up logo but it turns out the web settings were all off. Bummer.
I am starting to feel like I'm violating a certain blogging etiquette by posting everyday. I'm not trying to set up a Blogger Monopoly or hog attention. The expectation is not for everybody I know to read my blog everyday, so I hope it doesn't feel that way. But if you've made it this far in this post, thank you very much for reading!
Coming this week: Macjams.com review, a new music feedback forum for my personal music, and maybe I'll jump on the band wagon and rate some movies I love and hate.
Stay classy.
24
For the past five years, a good percentage of the population has been obsessed with Fox's hit series, 24.
As they should be. I can't really pinpoint who exactly it was that really pushed 24 onto me. Some friends from Lubbock had long been hooked, which in turn led to the caving of my parents. Also, friends from Bent Tree spoke effervescently about the infamous Jack Bauer--comparing him to legends such as Chuck Norris and Mr. Miyagi.
I purchased season 1 as a gift for my parents a while back. I told myself I wouldn't watch any episodes until after school was out, for fear losing sleep over whether or not the nuke was going to blow. I'd heard too many stories of such emotional attachments.
Am I hooked? Yes, but it's complicated. All of my presumptions as an outsider looking in on a crazed, obsessed culture have been shattered. My original conclusions maintained the thought that a TV network had once again paid a team enough money to write with all the right formulas that would grab the attention of millions providing plenty of opportunities to sell ad space in order to increase gross income so that salaries may increase and stock go up and more money in the bank...etc, etc etc. Forgive the very strong opinion, but I'm still bitter about the existence of garbage like Desperate Housewives and the cancellation of stunning, oscar worthy portraits of blue collar space cowboys trying to make a living while facing the oppression of an autocratic interplanetary government. (See
Mike's review of Firefly)
Runons aside, 24 is capturing audiences for what I believe to be different reasons than what I originally expected. Sure, there's probably a few corporate geniuses enjoying the financial benefits of their magnum opus. But power to them! They've created something that is original, inovative, and constantly deviating from the norm. Do they stretch believability? A bit, but hey, it's Jack Bauer. If a TV drama expressed the normal every day life of a Counter-Terrorist based out of an office in sub-urban America, I'm sure the mass public wouldn't hold on for 5 going on 6 seasons.
I guess my point is that 24 has definitely varied from what I originally expected. Everybody shouts that the creators/writers have "mastered the hook!". While that's true, I think that they've redefined how to connect people with a television drama. Characters are the driving force in practically all TV shows. In 24, however, the attachment that viewers form with characters is so much stronger in my mind due to the fact that you literally spend a day with them. The real-time aspect of the show allows for so much character development that the story line only serves as a mainframe to weave the intricate subplots together--thus creating "the hook".
School starts next week. One season down, about 8 episodes of season 2 to go. Hopefully I'll have an extra 96 hours this semester to devote to saving America from all kinds of crazy plots.
I'm Special Intern Seth Martin, and this semester will be the longest semester of my life.
God is Fun
Many of you haven't met the Legend that is Peter Ellwood. Peter and I met through our baseball team with the HSAA. We have a friendship that "everything is understandable". Our thoughts are what we call "on the same wave". Most conversations we have mean a lot more to us than bystanders would comprehend. Just ask Allie.
We're what one would call "best friends". I think it's more cool/mature to say "best mates" like they do in Europe. Makes it sound less 3rd grade.
He and I had a discussion tonight about 1st John 4:8:
"He who does not love does not know God"
The thought is that as we experience the emotion of love, whether it's a love for those around us, a specific hobby, or a favorite sports team, God is the source of the joy. These things that we 'love' can show us a little bit about God. Peter summed up the idea excellently with the thought that "God is the joy, the light, and the fun that you receive from doing what you love". God is love. God's love is available for us to experience Him, to know Him more.
The danger lies in the line between what is of God and what is of the world. Idolatry is obviously the contrast. At what point does God's love through us get replaced with our love of the flesh?
We don't need the things that God gives us to experience His love. Knowing God doesn't depend on how well the Rangers do. If we search for God in the things
we love, we find ourselves wanting.
God is love. God's love is what allows us to experience joy in the things He provides for us.
By spending time with Him, His love will bring us joy.
Thanks, Pete.
Sunday-----1/7
I was struck by something today. For some reason, even though I have reflected on these thoughts, I believe God really placed an impression on my heart.
After spending my day at Bent Tree, I went by the High School small group kickoff at a park in Carrollton. I was introducing my sister to one of our staff members and enjoying a hotdog on the side.
About 200 students between 9-12 grade showed up. I have had the privilege to serve in a ministry that has allowed me to get to know a lot of students. Walking around the picnic pavillion seeing faces, exchanging hand shakes, and greeting friends caused the full impact of what I had only previously considered to hit me.
I can remember outdoor picnics and pool parties as a freshman under Saunders at Bent Tree. I dropped release forms off at the desk that has forever been the hub of administration for youth programs. I even purpled a little bit at Pine Cove.
I never considered that I would have a place to call "my desk" at Bent Tree. I never imagined that I would teach jr. high students Crowder and Tomlin on the same stage that I learned Delirious and Sonic Flood. I never invisioned that my spiritual walk would dramatically increase due to my relationships with those who forever intimidated me. I never dreamed that I would be blessed with such an amazing opportunity of serving on such a loving, caring, wise staff that would pour into me as I learned to pour into others. I never have understood the love of my mom and dad, who have supported me as long as I can remember and have pushed me and challenged me to pursue God's heart. I am more blessed and fortunate than I can ever comprehend. Words cannot express how deeply humbled I am to know that Tom E., Steve P., and Paul D. saw in me something worth pursuing. As drama-free as I can be, tears come to my eyes.
All this to say, God has allowed me to grow in more ways than I could have ever thought possible. For that I am so humbly grateful. Through my inabilities, faults, and many failures, God in his grace has and most definitely is still teaching me so much more than my inadequate self could ever do without the love and grace found in Jesus Christ.
To end, one of my favorite verses and songs:
"Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness"
-Psalm 115:1
I Am Ashamed
Well, to prove many of you wrong in your exclamations that this would be a "summer blog", I didn't update at all this season. So ha!
Ok, really. I'm done making excuses.
Why, oh why, can't I consistently update my blog?? I constantly have days where I think "man, this (experience) is awesome. I could blog about this".
But do I?? No, I lose interest. Or I forget. Or I fall asleep. Or I think that nobody will care. But, with all this chatter, I am honestly not attempting to excuse my way out of updating. I really enjoy keeping up a website and posting. The community is tons of fun, as are the stories. Why, then, am I cursed?
Well, here's my plan. Before too long I'm gonna get a digital camera...I think that will help immensely with a desire to post. However, more current and specific plans include a new revival of epic proportion:
This upcoming week between
Sunday, August 20th, and
Sunday, August 27th will henceforth be known as the
"Make 7Up-dates Yours" week.My goal: To post one update per day, everyday, for at least seven days. I want to see how I do. I want to discover whether or not I have what it takes. I have no idea what this week will bring. I have no idea how well I'll handle this endeavour. But I will do whatever is in my power to prevail. The cost of failure? The
deletion of the Simple Training.
So, your accountability would be great. Some encouraging comments would be appreciated. Maybe a pat on the back, or, Erik, how about some lunch?? Or maybe some taunts or threats at my manliness, like "if you were a real man you'd update your blog". I bet that'd get me going.
So there it is. Make 7up-Dates Yours Week begins.
In the words Pharaoh,
So it is written, let it be done.
